NORMAN, Okla. The USA Basketball Mens Collegiate Committee approved a waiver request from University of Oklahoma sophomore Kevin Bookout that will enable the forward to participate in the U.S. Pan American Games training camp beginning July 15. Bookout applied for the waiver from USA Basketball Mens National Team Trials (held May 30-June 1) due to his participation in the NCAA Track and Field Championships.

A 6-8, 260-pounder from Stroud, Okla., Bookout will join 17 other finalists in Orlando, Fla., for training camp. The 18 finalists will be whittled to 12 players for the Pan Am Games that will be held Aug. 2-6 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The field of participants for the basketball competition, which is expected to consist of eight teams, is not yet known.

Bookout averaged 9.4 points and a team-high 5.9 rebounds in 27.7 minutes per game last year as a freshman on OUs 27-7 team. In Big 12 games, he averaged 10.3 points and 6.4 boards per outing. Bookout led the conference in field goal percentage with a .587 mark. A member of the Big 12 All-Freshman Team, he started all but one game on the year, yielding to Jozsef Szendrei on Senior Day. Bookout also earned All-America honors in outdoor track and field in the shot put by finishing in eight place at nationals.

The Pan Am games are held every four years in the year prior to the Olympics. The United States will be directed by Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo. Izzo will be assisted by Washingtons Lorenzo Romar and Missouris Quin Snyder.

OUs Turner Returns From Italy Trip

Larry Turner, a freshman on the OU basketball team who applied for a medical hardship following last season, returned this week from a trip to Italy in which he played six games with a U.S. All-Star team. Turner averaged 7.0 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting .480 from the field for the team coached by Bill Van Gundy, father of Houston Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy. The U.S. team posted a 2-4 record.

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